A purchase requisition is a request to buy the items a project needs. It's raised from the project itself, so the purchase stays linked to that project for costing and for tracking what the customer's order needs. Requisitions don't go to suppliers on their own — once approved, they're imported onto a purchase order.
info New to purchasing? Start with the Purchasing Overview to see when to use a requisition versus a standard purchase order.
Requisitioning Items from a Project
The most common way to raise a requisition is straight from the project's stock list — pick the items the project is short on and request them in one step.
- Go to Projects → Project Register and open the project you're buying for.
- On the project, open the Inventory tab.
- Tick the items you want to order. For a long list, use the search and filters across the top to narrow it down first.
- Click the Requisition button to open the requisition window.
Filling in the Requisition
The requisition window opens with the items you ticked. Set the header details and the quantity for each line:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Reference (Optional) | A free-text title/reference to help you find the requisition later. |
| Requisition Type | Leave on Requisition Only for the standard flow (raise a requisition now, pull it onto a PO later). Choose Direct to Purchase to also create or add to a purchase order in the same step — see Direct to Purchase below. |
| Activity | The project activity the requisition is tied to. Choose Not Applicable if it isn't linked to a specific activity. |
| Required By | The date you need the items by (for example, next Monday). This is carried onto the requisition. |
| Order quantity (per line) | Click into a line's quantity field and it fills in with the amount the project needs. You can type any value instead. |
| Requisition All | A shortcut that fills in the needed quantity on every line at once — handy when you want to request everything the project is short on. |
When the quantities look right, click Add Requisition.
Direct to Purchase — Skipping Straight to a PO
Normally a requisition is raised first and pulled onto a purchase order later. When you already know who you're buying from and want to save that second step, switch Requisition Type to Direct to Purchase in the requisition window. The requisition is still created and stays linked to the project — it's just placed straight onto a purchase order at the same time.
Two extra fields appear when you choose Direct to Purchase:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Supplier | Search for and pick the supplier you're ordering from. Start typing to filter the list, then click the supplier. |
| Purchase Order | Once a supplier is chosen, this list becomes available and shows that supplier's open purchase orders. Leave it on Create New Purchase Order (the default) to start a fresh PO, or pick an existing open PO to add the requisitioned items to it. |
When you click Add Requisition, the items are requisitioned and placed on the purchase order in one go, and you're taken straight to that PO ready to review and send it.
The Requisition Edit Screen
Open a requisition from the project or the register to see where every line stands: what it's estimated to cost, whether it's approved, which purchase order it's on, and how much has been received and billed. You can change quantities, descriptions and notes, and approve or order lines without leaving the page.
The Header and Figures
The header shows the requisition's title, its overall status (the least progressed of its lines), and an Overdue or Late ETA flag when a line is past its Required By date or expected after it. Underneath are the project (a link back to it), who raised it and when, and the required date.
The Approve all and Order approved buttons appear when there is something to do. More opens the project's purchasing tab, the Requisitions register, or deletes the requisition. You can only delete a requisition while none of its lines is on a purchase order or received.
| Figure | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Lines | How many lines there are, and how many are overdue. |
| Estimated | The requisition cost × quantity over every line, excluding tax. |
| Approved | The value of the approved lines, and how many of the lines that is. |
| On order | The value on purchase orders at the PO price, the number of POs, and how far it is above or below the estimate. |
| Received | The value received so far at the PO price, as a percentage of what is on order. |
| Billed | The value of supplier bills for these lines, excluding tax, or how many received lines haven't been billed yet. |
The Purchase Orders Panel
Each purchase order holding lines from this requisition is listed with its supplier and status. Its row shows how many of the lines are from here, their value, how much has been received (also shown as a progress bar), the due date, and whether it has been sent or confirmed. Lines waiting in a purchase batch are listed there too. Click a PO number to open it.
The Lines
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Line | The line number. Click it to open the line detail window. |
| Item | The item code (a link to the item) and its description, shortened to two lines. Click edit to edit the description, or sticky_note_2 to add or read notes. |
| Status | Awaiting approval, Awaiting order, On order or Received in full, with Overdue, Late ETA or Not billed flags. A line awaiting approval has an Approve button here. |
| Supplier | The supplier on the purchase order, otherwise the supplier requested on the line, otherwise the item's primary supplier. |
| Required / ETA | The date the item is needed by, and the expected arrival date once it's on order. See How the ETA is Set. |
| Qty | The quantity requested. Change it here and click Save Changes. |
| Ordered / Received / Billed | How much is on purchase orders, how much has arrived, and how much has been billed by the supplier. |
| Unit cost / Value | The estimated cost each and for the line. When the PO price differs by more than the Price check percentage, a flag such as PO +7% shows the difference; hover over it to see both prices. |
| PO | The purchase order the line is on (every one, when it's split), the batch it's waiting in, or add_circle to raise a PO for that line. The supplier is worked out when you click. |
| delete | Tick to delete the line when you save. Lines on a purchase order or received can't be deleted. |
Above the lines, Filter lines finds lines by anything you can see on them: item code, description, supplier or PO number. Separate words with commas to find any of them. Status narrows the list to one status, or to overdue lines. While the list is filtered, the total underneath covers only the lines shown. Price check ± sets how far a PO price can differ from the estimate before it's flagged; it's 5% to start with and is remembered for you.
In the quantity boxes, Enter moves to the next line instead of saving, so you can work down the list. Save with Save Changes in the bar at the bottom, which stays in view and tells you how many quantities you've changed. Changing the header Required By date also moves the lines that had the same date. Lines with their own date keep it.
Acting on Several Lines at Once
Tick lines (or tick the box in the header to select every line shown) and the bar at the bottom shows how many you've selected and their value, with these actions:
- Approve: approves the selected lines straight away, at their saved quantity.
- Order: puts the selected approved lines into a purchase batch, ready to turn into purchase orders.
- Delete on save: marks the selected lines for deletion when you click Save Changes.
A button stays greyed out when it doesn't apply to what you've selected. Hover over it to see why, for example None of the selected lines is awaiting approval.
A deleted requisition opens read-only, with its lines, figures and history, so you can still see what it held.
Approval
Approve a single line with the Approve button in its Status column, or approve several at once with Approve all or by ticking lines on the requisition. To clear a backlog across requisitions, approve in bulk from the register — see Approving in Bulk from the Register.
Approving requires Purchasing access set to Administrator (administrators always have it). If you have read access to Purchasing you can still edit a requisition's description, quantity, notes and status — you just can't approve it, and the line shows Awaiting approval with no Approve button.
Approval is tied to the line's value, not just to a tick. If someone later raises the quantity so the line is worth more than what was approved, the approval is withdrawn and the line goes back on the Awaiting Approval list. Bring the quantity back down and the original approval is restored.
Tracking on the Project's Purchasing Tab
Once raised, the requisition appears on the project's Purchasing tab (headed Purchasing / Requisitions), which gives you an at-a-glance view of where every requested item is up to. On the Inventory tab those items also change to a pending (yellow) status to show they're now underway — not yet fully satisfied.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| REQID | The requisition ID — click it to open that requisition's edit screen. |
| PO | The purchase order the item is on, or 2 POs, 3 POs and so on when the line has been split across several. The info beside it opens the line's full history — see The Line Detail Window. While any of the line is still to be ordered, a add_circle_outline orders it from here, or Batch n shows it is waiting in a purchase batch — see Ordering from the Project. |
| Project# / Item Code / Cat / Description | The project code, the item, its category and description. Items built from a Bill of Materials are flagged with a BOM tag and their components are indented beneath them. |
| Ordered On | The date the purchase order was raised (the most recent one, when there are several), or N/A until the line is ordered. |
| Date Req. / ETA | The date the item is required by, and the expected arrival date once it's on order (see How the ETA is Set). N/A when no date has been set. |
| Supplier | The supplier the item is on order with — every supplier, when the line is split between several purchase orders. Before it is ordered, the supplier requested on the line, or Not set when none was requested. Not set does not stop you ordering: the supplier is worked out when you click add_circle_outline. |
| On Order | The quantity currently on order for this line. |
| Billed | The quantity that has been billed by the supplier, not counting deleted bills. A report_problem warning shows when goods have been received but not yet billed. |
| Rec. | The received status — how much has arrived so far, out of the quantity ordered (including partial receipts). |
| Status dot | A colour-coded dot summarising each line at a glance (see below). |
The status dot on the far right tells you where each line is up to:
- Red — requisitioned but not yet ordered (no purchase order raised).
- Yellow — on order (imported onto a purchase order), awaiting delivery.
- Green — complete / fully received.
Ordering from the Project
You can order straight from the Purchasing tab without going to the register. You need Purchasing access (read or higher), or to be an administrator, and the line must be approved. Each line still to be ordered shows one of these in its PO column:
- Order outstanding (n) in the tab header puts every approved line not yet fully on order into a single purchase batch, which groups them by supplier and raises one purchase order per supplier. Lines already waiting in a batch are left out of the count. The button is hidden when there is nothing left to order.
- The info opens the line's full history and shows who the rest of it would be ordered from — see The Line Detail Window.
- add_circle_outline orders this one line (see below).
- Approve appears instead when the line still needs approval and you are allowed to approve requisitions. Click it and the line is approved on the spot and its add_circle_outline appears, ready to order. If you can't approve, you see a greyed-out add_circle_outline until someone does.
- Batch 28 means the line is waiting in an unfinished purchase batch. Click it to open that batch. The line can't be ordered any other way until the batch is finished or cancelled, which stops it being ordered twice.
Ordering one line: click its add_circle_outline. Evolution picks the supplier the same way a batch does, in this order: the supplier pinned on the project line, the supplier requested on the requisition, the item's primary supplier, the item's only supplier, then who you have bought it from before.
- If that gives one supplier, the purchase order is raised and opened, and a message tells you who it went to and why (for example “only supplier”).
- If the item has several possible suppliers, or none, or the line is free text with no stock item, the line opens in a purchase batch instead, where you choose the supplier and check the cost. Back on the tab, the line then shows Batch n.
Part-ordered lines: if some of a line is already on order, add_circle_outline stays beside its PO links and orders only what is left. The new purchase order line is priced on that remaining quantity and taxed at the item's purchase tax rate, and the order's totals are filled in straight away.
The Line Detail Window
Click the info in a line's PO column (or its n POs link) for everything about that line in one place. It loads when you open it, so it adds nothing to the time the tab takes to load.
- Summary cards: required, on order (with how many POs and suppliers), received, billed and still to order. A bar underneath shows how much has arrived, how much is on order and how much is still to order. A line with more on order than it needs is flagged Over-ordered.
- By supplier: when the line is split between suppliers, a card for each one with what it has on order, what has arrived and its POs.
- Purchase orders: every PO that has ordered the line, with who it is with, when it was raised and due, quantity, value, what has been received, and whether it has been sent to or confirmed by the supplier. Deleted POs stay in the list, greyed out and struck through, so you can see what happened. Batch links to the purchase batch that raised the PO, if one did.
- Supplier bills: the bills that carry the line.
- Next order: while some of the line is still to order, who it would be ordered from and why, with a button to order it. If the line is waiting in an unfinished purchase batch, this links to that batch instead.
- Line details: project, category, unit cost, required and expected dates, requested supplier and who approved it.
- Purchase batches: every batch the line has been through and what happened to it there — the PO it produced, or why it was held back (for example Blocked: No cost).
- The whole requisition: every line on the same requisition with its progress, so you can see how the rest of the order is going. The line you opened is highlighted.
The Requisitions Register
For a whole-of-business view — every open requisition across all projects — go to Purchasing → Requisitions. This Active Purchase Requisitions list shows each requisitioned item with its project, vendor, dates, the PO it's on (if any) and whether it's been ordered and received.
Filter the list by item, supplier or project, and show or hide the customer and project columns to suit how you work.
A line can be ordered in pieces — part on one purchase order, the rest on another, sometimes from a different supplier. The register shows every purchase order the line is on in the PO column and every supplier in the Supplier column, and a add_circle_outline stays beside approved lines for as long as part of the line is still to be ordered (approvers see an Approve button on lines still awaiting approval). It works the same way as on the project's Purchasing tab: the supplier is worked out when you click it, and a line with no single supplier opens in a batch (see Ordering from the Project). A line waiting in an unfinished batch shows Batch n instead, linking to that batch. A line that is not on any order yet shows the supplier it would be ordered from: the one requested on the line, otherwise the item's primary supplier. Filtering by supplier matches either.
How the ETA is Set
A line's ETA follows its purchase orders. Whenever the line is placed on a purchase order (by importing it, from the register, or through a batch), whenever one of its purchase orders is deleted or restored, and whenever the supplier confirms a date, the ETA becomes the latest required-by date across the purchase orders the line is on — the date by which all of it should have arrived.
A date you type in yourself (on the purchase order line, or with Update ETA on the supplier's record) is kept until the next of those events. Simply saving a purchase order does not change it.
The Summary Cards
The row of cards across the top of the register tells you what the outstanding work actually consists of. Every figure is measured over whatever you have typed in the filter boxes, so they update as you search.
- Open Lines — everything currently on the register.
- Awaiting Approval — lines nobody has approved yet, and the total value you would be committing by approving them.
- Ready to Order — approved, and still short of the quantity the project asked for. This is the work a buyer can act on today.
- On Order — fully ordered, waiting on the supplier.
- Overdue — past the required-by date and not yet fully ordered.
- No Supplier — no supplier on the line and none set on the item. These can't be ordered until somebody picks one.
Click a card to filter the list to it, and click it again to go back to everything. The cards themselves don't change when you do — they keep describing the whole workload, so you can always see what you've narrowed away from.
The register also shows two columns that help you decide: Value, which is the unit cost multiplied by the quantity still to order, and Approval, which shows whether the line is approved and who approved it.
Approving in Bulk from the Register
An approval backlog is easier to clear in one pass than one line at a time. If you have Purchasing access set to Administrator, the register gives you a tick box against every line you can act on.
- Click the Awaiting Approval card to filter the register to the backlog.
- Narrow it further if you want to — by project, supplier or item — using the filter boxes. The cards and the list both follow the filter.
- Tick the lines you want, or use the tick box in the header to take the whole page.
- Press Approve. The button carries the count, so you can see exactly how many lines you are about to approve before you press it.
One Selection, Two Actions
A sweep of the register usually picks up both kinds of line: some waiting to be approved, and some already approved and waiting to be ordered. Your selection keeps both, and the bar at the bottom tells you which is which — "18 lines selected — 12 to approve, 6 to order". Each button is only enabled by its own share, so Approve acts on the unapproved lines and Batch to Purchase Orders acts on the approved ones. Neither touches the other's lines.
Selections survive paging, so you can work through several pages and press the button once at the end.
What Happens Next
Approved requisitions are gathered onto purchase orders that go to your suppliers — one PO per vendor, pulling in the open requisitions for that vendor. Continue to Purchase Orders to see how to create a PO and import these requisitions onto it.
To raise them all at once instead, tick the approved lines in the register and use Batch to Purchase Orders — Evolution works out the supplier for each line, groups them, and raises every order in one pass.